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write your own review of the PAR Electronics, Inc EF-10/20/40.
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KG2AF
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 15, 2009 15:40
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It is something special!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Living in an apartment has many drawbacks for ham radio. Having to do it in a bad location for ham radio makes it worse. Little room for an outdoor antenna, second floor apartment, almost fully surrounded by buildings, and well below the surrounding terrain. Not to mention power line proximity and noise and nosy neighbors. I have used just about every commercial antenna available and every home brew antenna imaginable. Buddipole, MP-1, Hustler verticals, G5rv Jr, Isotrons, trap dipoles, Fishing pole antenna's, loops of every geometric shape. They have all worked to some extent and many have worked quite well even with the constraints I have. Some did not work at all. Some were ugly. Some were too much of a pain to set up and take down. . The EF-10/20/40 has by far performed more consistently than any other antenna I have used at this QTH. I still have to work harder and longer than most others to make contacts. But I have more qso's more often. In the last week I have worked my firsts in Alaska, Denmark, and Iceland. Not much for most people but a small slice of ham heaven for me. The bottom of the sunspot cycle. 25 watts. And I am having fun. How do you put a price on that? I can take the antenna down in 10 minutes if I want to take it camping with me. Put this together with ease of setup, low visibility, and Dale's great customer service and you have a first rate antenna from a first rate company.
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IN3ACV
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 2, 2009 05:35
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Incredible !!!!!!!!!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Hello
I have a EF 10/20/40 for my Elecraft KX1.
It's amazing antenna.
It's incredible.
Tnx Dale.
73, de in3acv
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W5HLP
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 1, 2009 04:55
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Outstanding Antenna/Outstanding Value
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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PAR Electronics Antennas are terrific - you can gather that by all the 5 star reviews. However, let me add my own experiences and views.
First - I build most of my antennas; total count about 10, purchased 3. Dale's antennas (PAR electronics) are worth every penny.
Quality of product: 10 - this thing is ROBUST - It is rated for 25 watts I have pushed 20 through it quite a bit - no problems. I suspect in an emergency it could go higher - wouldn't hesitate if situation called for it.
Ease of set up: 10+ It comes with directions that are easy to follow and WORK! Please take the time to tune this antenna up when you first use it; it is close as it comes out of the box, but it deserves your efforts. As delivered mine was right where the instructions indicated, just below 20 meters; a couple of snips and I'm set for 14.070 with SWR of 1:1.1 and 2:1 at the top of 20m. It takes maybe 30 minutes if you are cautious, careful and anal-retentive (is that hyphenated - I always worry). When Dale says an inch trimmed of raises it 35kHz - it does. I use an analyzer to tune this but a SWR meter would work great.
Performance: 10+++ This thing works. I have used it on the beach operating /4 and regularly QSOd with Europe and South America with 20 watts from an SGC2020 on SSB and PSK31. It puts the power into the aether! Hang it off the balconey or . . .my favorite . . . take it down to the beach, string it up to a 31 foot Jakeite pole and run as a sloper. Don't forget the beach chair and the adult beverages. Perfect way to wind down after a day of meetings (what - you don't think I was at the beach for fun!). Seriously - gives a great low angle of radiation and at dusk really catches the grayline.
Support/Customer Interaction: None better anywhere. 10^2. Dale is an active ham, he is proud of his products and he wants yours to work. Problems or issues -- email or call and you WILL get support right NOW.
Overall - Easy to pack, should last for decades. This is the one I always pack!!!!!
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KE4BIW
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 23, 2009 04:28
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Tim, time to upgrade!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Tim, K3DET, could find no other way to contact you so just wanted you to know that morse code is no longer a requirement for hams in the US. So go buy a General License study guide and get busy. No excuses any more!
Wade
K4WMN
And yes, as for the Par End-Fedz....I'm in the process of purchasing a few and will report back.
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K7DD
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 19, 2009 08:31
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Product and Service is PAR above PAR!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Let me preface this review by saying I am not one to go out and buy my antennas for the most part. This little gem was an exception and worth every penny spent.
FYBO (A QRP Field event) was comming up and I wanted something better that what I had been using that was easy to set up, multi-banded for the most active bands in the contest, inexpensive (aren't all hams cheap?) and convienant to use. I had been using dipoles at low heights, other adapted trap verticals and a full size 20 meter ground plane in the past with mixed results.
Arriving at the site to on the air was a total of 40 minutes and I move SLOW. 31' JackKite pole with a 16' Harbor Freight flag pole stuck up the bottom was the support and it was bungeed to a large C-Clamp attached to the roof of the ramada and a trash can for the base support. Small bungee ball wraps were used at the load coil about 6'from the tip to hold it to the mast and the rest of the antenna was just sloped away about 15' from the mast at the feed point. Atttach coax, hook up Icom 703 and I am on the air.
SWR? What SWR? When I pretuned this antenna at home the final SWR was almost unmeasurable on 20, below 1.4 to 1 on 40 and 10. Heck, even 17M wasn't unusable.
Conditions were not what that hot. I worked everything I could hear including 3 stations in Canada and a VK4 during the event and all with 5 watts.
Am I a happy customer? Yep.
OH! BTW, If you invest in one of these little bueaties, DON"T USE an MFJ 259 or 269 to set it up. The device will just be confused and NOT give you accurate indications at all. Just set it up with an SWR meter and a chunk of coax and be done with it. It drove me nuts for 4 days trying to figure out what was wrong when the best SWR I could see was above 4:1 with Ø ohms resistive and 45 ohms reactive!
A phone call to Dale yielded a replacement matching unit and a new 20 meter wire just in case but they indicated the same thing. When I did it the old fashion was, all was right with the world.
I kept the other parts and sold them to a fellow ScQRPion who already had two of his antennas and wanted one of his own for travel!
This fellow goes out of his way to make the customer happy. He build a quality product that does exactly what he says it will and is approachable, knowledgable and friendly. (Gee, sound like an old school Ham to me!) In short, take the time to check out PAR Electronics web site and then, as they say in the NIKE commercial, "JUST DO IT" and get on the air!
I have no financial interst in PAR Electronics other than a happy customer.
Keep up the good work Dale.
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AF2Q
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 15, 2009 21:56
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A 35 foot Dream come True
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Hello Everyone,
Before I go on telling you about the PAR antenna please let me tell you about my situation here where I live.
Being disabled I had to move into a HUD building.
I picked the 4th floor dreaming of a nice sized craw space.
My dreams were shattered when I moved in.
There isn't any craw space.
The place was built to take a bomb blast (REALLY)
My entrance door is steel have 6" of concrete and 1/4" corrugated steel above and below me.
Enough steel here to build a bridge to NY City.
I tried all types of wire antennas and I settled on the MAG LOOP that seemed to work fine but I did miss the ability to move around the band and not have to retune every few KC.
I had the PAR antenna 10/20/40 meter version.
One night I decided to toss the antenna out of the 4th floor window and I was impressed that any noise coming from the building was just as low or lower then the MAG LOOP
It's slopped appx 45* down and the working end is about 20 feet off the ground.
I'm far from an EE and just know a fair amount of information on antennas.
The MAG LOOP did get me some good DX but it doesn't hear that well inside this steel box.
I used my home made end fed when parked and tossed the 65 foot wire into the trees.
However 65 foot of wire it a lot of tossing and hard to get vertical.
The PAR 40/20 and 10 meter is perfect for stationary mobile and at around 35 feet works as well as the 65 foot wire.
It's short enough to drop out of the window then reel it in when I'm finished using it.
I took my time and tuned the PAR on 20 meters and then on 40 meters.
It seems no matter where I deploy the PAR antenna so far I never saw an SWR higher then 1.5-1 and almost all the time it around 1.3-to 1
I then remember reading about tuning the PAR for 40 meters up at the far end.
I got the SWR FLAT!-ZERO.
My first try from this building I dropped the wire out and secured it with a 15 foot long piece of mono line and thumb tacked it to what was left of a tree stump,APPX. 3 feet high and left the PAR Antenna working end of the antenna about 5 feet off the ground.
I came back up on the 4th floor and was impressed and very happy that I was again able to tune around and not worry about retuning every 5 KC.
I had my FT-817 @ 5 watts, on the 13.8 Power supply and my very 1st QSO was with France.
Not that far but very good considering less then 300 feet from me is the back wall of a shopping mall and the antenna sloping down and facing Southeast.
After a few QSO's and about 6 weeks later I decided to look for another spot where I can get the working end higher.
I found the remains of a tree that was torn out from a tornado.
I tossed some mono line over that and was happy to see the working end now APPX 20 feet off the ground.
I came back up and I worked a ham down in FL.
I also worked the Virgin Islands and I bagged 1 QSO from Poland and another one in Italy.
For the 1st time in 2 years that I heard about it,
I was able to receive the Russian single letter Beacon.
On FEB.12,2009,on 20 meters I worked to hams in Germany.
I was not able to hear them on the MAG LOOP and my reports weren't that great on the PAR but calls and RST were exchanged.
Between operating from this 4th floor bunker and my three outdoor locations I have had no need to ever, even think of retuning the par and at 35 feet long it does as well as the 65 foot wire and I do have several QRPp QSL cards here from my Rock-Mite beacon.
My motto is DX may be far but you can work them with a PAR.
BOB
AF2Q
I forgot to mention that if you *ARE NOT* antenna restricted the PAR antenna is the way to go.
You can crank it down with a turn buckle and make it as tight as a guitar string and it won't break.
100% QUALITY PARTS!
You can also run the wire in almost any configuration and if the SWR isn't below 1.5 then just do the tuning steps. If your thinking that the 65 foot wire is better, try finding a tree that high in your back yard.
Almost all 65 foot wires are not vertical but the PAR at 35 feet long can be strung up close to vertical with no problem and works as well as the 65 foot wire that is almost always sloping upward not much more then 30-to 40 feet.
In my previous post I forgot to mention that last month I laid the PAR wire on the floor in the hall way at 2 AM just to see what it would do.
Below is part of the E mail I received.
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Hello my freind Bob
Thank you for e-mail and QSO , ur signal very strong 599 in Santiago de Cuba
Not bad for 5 watts and a wire laying on a concrete floor with 1/4" steel supporting all the weight.
BOB
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W5CEM
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 6, 2009 08:54
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FB Antenna
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Again, Dale is customer friendly to the max. He was busy with Gov. orders, but since we had chatted about the antenna previously he graciously found time to produce one. Up in a tree, sloped to the roof of my SUV in the parking lot of my condo. Bit of tweaking on 40 and 20 and it WORKS!!! 2.5 watts with my FT817. I can find no fault with this antenna, it does what is designed for. The quality is outstanding. Great product, great guy to deal with, great value! What more could you ask for.
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K3DUB
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 16, 2008 16:02
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Another satisfied customer!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Chock up another great review for Dale. I was browsing around for antennas that could deploy quickly and not need much to put them up. I looked into verticals but they were too lossy for QRP operation.
Enter this antenna. I e-mailed Dale and asked about one a while ago, he was very busy with govt orders and wouldn't be able to start offering it again until October, but when i e-mailed him in October it was pushed back again. BUT Dale went out of his way to accommodate me because I had been waiting so long. You won't get better customer support than this people. Thank you Dale.
My first call with the antenna was answered by 9Y4D. The antenna was up in the air 25ft in a tree and sloped down to my car trunk where my 817 sat. I received a 57 report on 2.5 watts! I didn't need to tune anything, the SWR was spot on!
Doesn't take much, I couldn't ask for a better antenna!
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KB8YBS
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 29, 2008 11:37
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If I could only own one antenna, this would be it.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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After buying a Miracle Whip antenna for my FT-817, I decided I had better consult eHam before my next antenna purchase. I bought a Buddistick, which is by all rights a really fine antenna, but I found the counterpoise wire to be a bit cumbersome so I didn't use it as much as I thought I would.
I don't have a lot of time to devote to playing radio so when I do get time, I need to be able to set up and tear down quickly. I didn't hate the Buddistick but it just wasn't the right choice for me. That's when I started looking at simple wire antennas.
I needed an antenna to semi-permanently install between my library window and a pine tree on the other side of my driveway. It had to be stealthy, not because of CC&Rs but because my spouse didn't want to see a bunch of wires all over the property. Ideally, it would be end fed or off-center fed to reduce feedline clutter, and it had to be compact and lightweight since I take my radio backpacking.
I poked around in the eHam forums and reviews and initially found the Par EF-40. It wasn't until I visited the Par web site that I found out they had a multi-band model. I read the reviews for the EF-10/20/40 and I was impressed with the 5.0/5 rating so I jumped.
The antenna seems to have better gain than my Buddistick (subjective since the 817 meter is rather lacking) and I was able to use it to work NC from Dayton, OH on 20m PSK. I made a few more contacts during Field Day. Even with a great antenna, Field Day can be discouraging for QRP ops though. I haven't managed any transoceanic contacts yet but it's just a matter of putting in the time and patience. The gear is dialed in perfectly. It's the operator that needs work.
The EF-10/20/40 is very robustly built and it appears design time was invested making it durable and functional rather than “sexy.” Tuning was very straight forward. Even I was able to tune it to SWRs hovering around 1.1 on all bands by just following the included instructions.
I bought this antenna to erect in a fixed position over my driveway but I quickly decided that I preferred it over my Buddistick for field ops. Taking the EF down and putting it back up was kind of a hassle so I bought a second EF-10/20/40 a couple months later for portable work. I tuned the second one using a friend's MFJ antenna analyzer. It tuned up just as nicely as the first. Very consistent. I use a 31' fiberglass Jackite pole to deploy the antenna in a sloper configuration. When backpacking, I use a nylon line thrown over a tree branch to hoist the antenna.
I use a short coax from the transceiver to the matching network box. Occasionally I'll use a male/male adapter to connect the network box directly to the back of the radio. I'm not worried about RF since I'm operation less than 5 watts.
The EF-10/20/40 has a 25 watt limit, which may be an issue for some hams, but since I'm exclusively a QRP operator, it wasn't a limitation at all. When rolled up, the EF antennas are smaller than my radio. I like that. The EF antenna wire is unlike anything I have ever used. It's very “slippery,” for lack of a better term, and a little stiffer than most wire of this AWG. It doesn't tangle easily on itself. I use a velcro strap to keep the antenna rolled up tidy when I'm not using it.
Dale Parfitt's customer focus is outstanding. Even when Par was running production for government contracts, he was still able to build and ship an antenna to me. Requests for information and replacement parts (mine was damaged in Hurricane Ike) are answered within hours. You won't find a better company to deal with.
If you are reading this, odds are you're in the market for a wire antenna. It's not often that “inexpensive” and “best-in class” overlap. You really cannot go wrong with this antenna. If I could only own one antenna, this would be it.
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VE7HJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 26, 2008 19:43
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Great QRP/Portable Antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just returned from two weeks in Hawaii and was able to take a QRP rig and PAR EF 10-20-40 antenna with me. We stayed 9 days on Molokai Island. The first 7 days we were at a condo on the 3rd floor. It was a nice place and I was concerned about disturbing others so I deployed the antenna after dark 7:30 ish at night. I ran the wire from the third floor to a palm tree at about 18 feet high and 50 feet in front to the balcony. The lowest end was slopping towards the ocean and southern direction. I checked the 40 meter band but the noise floor was rather high S7. I then checked the 20 meter band the noise floor was S2 and the VK’s were rolling in. I heard the ANZA NET on 14,183 wow nice signals and many check-ins. I gave it a try and was given a 556 signal report running 12 watts of power on SSB. That was 5700 mile distance between our stations. I worked many of the VK stations that night. The next night Don NC6A/KH6 a local on Molokai came by for an eyeball and he gave the same Net a try running 1 watt! They gave him a 5-0 report with good audio. That really blew me away he then tried and made contact with a station on Cook Island using CW on 30 meters, again running 1 watt. At night 40 meters was noisy and rather poor conditions. I did however listen to 40 meters during the early morning hours and heard YC6BRS on Sumatra. I also had the pleasure of working the 40 meter Hawaii Net on 7,088 at 4:00 PM local time 3:00 UTC time. I also slopped to antenna up and in some cases flat and it worked the closer in stations in the USA and Canada. I worked E51JD JIM DITCHBURN on the Cook Islands, who gave me a 554 signal report on 14,283. For those that wonder how I launched my antenna I will tell you my secret. I bought a $2.59 ball of nylon string at KMART (200 FT) and also picked up some fishing weights the bell type with the eye at one end. I tied that weight to the end of the string and pulled about 50 feet off the roll onto the ground. I held the roll buy sticking my finger in one end of the cardboard roll and pointed the end up. I then spun the weighted end like a lasso side ways and sent it up into the air. It flew up over the palm tree and almost came straight back down. I left the weight on the string and tied that end to my antenna. The roll end was then pulled back to raise the wire. The reason to leave the weight end one is to be able to lower the antenna later.
In my opinion there is no better a portable antenna for ham radio. It fits into a zip lock bag, can be launched in almost and direction up, down, flat, L shape and a V configuration. It is much quieter then a vertical antenna and will handle up to 25 watts of power. I am hooked on this antenna and highly recommend PAR Electronics and Dale Parfitt.
WWW.parelectronics.com
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